There’s no happy end to this story. Most of the kids didn’t fully appreciate the nuances of the story of Joseph and my first attempt at telling a story at my church’s 4-8s Sunday School group left me with some lessons to learn. Stories are hugely important; you don’t have to look very far in the Bible to see that. Look at Jesus, he couldn’t get enough of telling stories: from lost sheep, to farmers, to huge parties, many of the most profound truths Jesus taught came from stories.
If we’re going to work with children, we’ve got to be the best storytellers we can be. We need to tell stories that stick with children, stories told so well that children want to chew over, wrestle and live with them. Yet often, faced with a room full of three-year-olds, our best intentions can turn to dust. This month, children’s author Vicki Howie shares some top tips for storytelling with under-fives (p18). Her ideas are simple and will transform the way you tell stories.
The thing that changed the way I told stories was Godly Play. The first time I saw it, I was transfixed; the slow, contemplative way of telling a story, blew my traditional hyperactive method of storytelling out of the water. Not only is the slowness and stillness an incredible way to help children concentrate and engage, but the reflection and wondering questions draw stuff out of them that can surprise and inspire us, as leaders. The best thing about Godly Play is that it reminds me of the way Jesus tells stories. He didn’t use them as a clever setup for a point he was about to make; the stories were the point. He’d tell the story, and get out of there: a First Century, Middle Eastern mic drop, if you will.
The need to fill children’s heads with conclusions and points to take home and talk about over Sunday lunch might be the biggest temptation in children’s ministry: we’re desperate to tell kids what Noah’s Ark means (‘Look at the animals! Look at the lovely animals and the rainbow and ignore all the dead people’). We fall short of the confidence needed to just tell a story and allow children to do the rest. It’s not just more memorable when we give children space to play with the story themselves, it’s a key building block of faith. Faith that has been shaped through our own understanding, rather than stamped onto us like a weekly wax seal, is more likely to stand up to rigour, doubt and real life. We owe it to the children we work with to grant them the space and freedom to wonder and explore the richness of God’s story.
